Malcolm Levitt

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Malcolm Levitt
Born
Malcolm Harris Levitt

1957 (age 65–66)
Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
Education University of Oxford (BA 1978, DPhil 1981)
Awards Günther Laukien Prize, Russell Varian Prize, Davy Medal
Scientific career
Institutions University of Southampton
Doctoral advisor Ray Freeman

Malcolm Harris Levitt is a British physical chemist and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopist. He is Professor in Physical Chemistry at the University of Southampton and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2007. [1]

Contents

Education and career

Levitt studied chemistry at the University of Oxford, at Keble College. As an undergraduate, he enjoyed lectures by Ray Freeman, who was by then already an established and prominent NMR spectroscopist. After working on an undergraduate research project with Freeman, Levitt continued to work under the supervision of Freeman for his doctorate, and since then was involved in research in the field of NMR. [2]

Levitt undertook a series of international postdoctoral research stays after completing his doctorate. In 1982, he worked with Shimon Vega at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. In 1982–1985, he worked with Richard Ernst at ETH Zurich. He was a staff scientist at the Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory at MIT in 1990–1997. [3]

He became a lecturer at Stockholm University, Sweden in 1991 and was subsequently promoted to professor. In 2001 he moved to the School of Chemistry at the University of Southampton, UK.

Research

Levitt is best known as the inventor of the composite pulse [4] and composite pulse decoupling sequences [5] in solution NMR. Other contributions to NMR spectroscopy include the development of symmetry-based recoupling and decoupling sequences in solid-state NMR, [6] and the use of long-lived nuclear spin states and singlet states in solution NMR. [7]

He is also the author of the textbook Spin Dynamics. Basics of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. [8]

He has also published extensively on the quantum mechanics and spectroscopy of endofullerenes. Techniques used include terahertz and infrared spectroscopy, and inelastic neutron scattering, as well as NMR.

Awards and honours

Levitt was awarded the Günther Laukien Prize in Magnetic Resonance in 2008 for his work on "optimized pulses and pulse sequences to enhance the power of liquid and solid state NMR". [9] He was awarded the final Russell Varian Prize in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in 2015 for his work on composite pulses. [10] He was awarded the Davy Medal of the Royal Society in 2021.

As a lecturer at Stockholm University, Levitt was awarded the Göran Gustafsson Prize for Chemistry in 1996. [11] As a postdoctoral researcher, Levitt was awarded the Latsis research prize of the ETH Zurich sponsored by the Latsis Foundation in 1985. [12] [13]

Levitt has been invited as the plenary speaker of major NMR academic conferences on multiple occasions, often in consecutive years. [14] [15] [16] [17]

Early and personal life

Levitt was born in 1957 at Hull, England. He is married and has one daughter. [18]

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References

  1. ↑ "Malcolm Levitt | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  2. ↑ Gil, Roberto R.; Dumez, Jean-Nicolas; Trevorrow, Paul (20 March 2019). "A career in NMR - An interview with Malcolm H. Levitt". Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry. 57 (6): 272–274. doi:10.1002/mrc.4869. S2CID   108591338.
  3. ↑ "Malcolm Levitt". www.ampere-society.org. Groupement AMPERE. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  4. ↑ Levitt, Malcolm H.; Freeman, Ray (1979). "NMR population inversion using a composite pulse". Journal of Magnetic Resonance. 33 (2): 473–476. Bibcode:1979JMagR..33..473L. doi:10.1016/0022-2364(79)90265-8.
  5. ↑ Levitt, Malcolm H; Freeman, Ray (1981). "Composite pulse decoupling". Journal of Magnetic Resonance. 43 (3): 502–507. Bibcode:1981JMagR..43..502L. doi:10.1016/0022-2364(81)90066-4.
  6. ↑ Lee, Y. K.; Kurur, N. D.; Helmle, M.; Johannessen, O. G.; Nielsen, N. C.; Levitt, M. H. (1995). "Efficient dipolar recoupling in the NMR of rotating solids. A sevenfold symmetric radiofrequency pulse sequence". Chemical Physics Letters. 242 (3): 304–309. Bibcode:1995CPL...242..304L. doi:10.1016/0009-2614(95)00741-L.
  7. ↑ Levitt, Malcolm H. (2012). "Singlet Nuclear Magnetic Resonance". Annual Review of Physical Chemistry. 63 (1): 89–105. Bibcode:2012ARPC...63...89L. doi:10.1146/annurev-physchem-032511-143724. PMID   22224703.
  8. ↑ Levitt, Malcolm H. (2017). Spin Dynamics. Basics of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (Second Edition). Wiley ISBN   0-471-48921-2
  9. ↑ "Past Laukien Recipients". www.enc-conference.org. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  10. ↑ "Major international honour for Malcolm Levitt, Prof | Chemistry | University of Southampton". www.southampton.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  11. ↑ "Pristagare – Gustafssons Stiftelser" (in Swedish). Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  12. ↑ "Prix Latsis Universitaires EPFZ | www.fondationlatsis.org". www.fondationlatsis.org. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  13. ↑ "List of ETH Latsis Prize Laureates" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  14. ↑ "EUROISMAR 2019 (25-30 August 2019) Prize and Awards". EUROISMAR 2019 (25-30 August 2019). Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  15. ↑ EUROISMAR 2019 (5 October 2017). "Another great talk @euromar2018! Malcolm Levitt from @unisouthampton will give a plenary lecture next July #NMRchat". @euroismar2019. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  16. ↑ "Plenary speakers, ISMAR 2017". www.ismar2017.org. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  17. ↑ "Hyperpolarized Magnetic Resonance | nmr-nl". nmr-nl.science.uu.nl. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  18. ↑ "Malcolm H Levitt". www.malcolmhlevitt.com. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
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